Value

16Jun

Different people has their own value, sometimes they valued the price more than quality, sometimes they valued time more than price, family more than career, safety more than production, and so on and so forth.

I have a good example about the value differences between my value and other’s value when I asked iPad2’s price to one of a friend that has access to buy from abroad last month. It just a simple question and answer, but in the end, he told me (which is actually good suggestion if my value and his are similar) “Titin, it’s better if you buy a motorcycle than you buy iPad2” okaaaayyyy…. For me, that’s kinda weird suggestion since I need mobile device that is comfortable to read email, and do some works and also must be lighter than my macbook, and he suggested a motorcycle. That’s not related at all, you can’t replace iPad2 with motorcycles. It will be reasonable if he suggested to buy galaxy or playbook or other tablets that is easier to get and cheaper.

But, after I analyze the different value between his and mine, I understand why he could come out with the idea. Maybe because he valued the price while I valued the need and the function. For him, when the price between 2 items are similar, he chooses to buy the bigger one or more functional one, while for me, since iPad2’s functions cannot be replaced by motorcycles, it useless if I accept the suggestion.

That’s a story, now let’s talk about customer’s value. Each customer/group of customers has its own value, to be success, the product must be something that could reach the value and there is not yet specific product or service had addressed that value. One of the biggest shampoo/soap producer knew this value very well when they produce sachet package for suburban people. They understand that suburban with lower income want to use flavorous shampoo or soap like the beautiful commercial stars that the saw in TV. But they couldn’t afford to buy a 400 ml shampoo even if the price was discounted 10%. But they could afford to buy a sachet even if the price of sachet is more expensive than shampoo in bottling. This group of customers usually valued a lower price item than the quality or the brand.

There is another sample of valuing, one of my lecturer told a funny story when she experimented to sell “Sari” to the housewives at high community level, she divided Sari to 3 category based on the motif and color, and put different prices for each category. The fact is, the entire Sari has same quality and same price. But the most expensive Sari sold out at the first place, followed by the medium price and the lowest price. This group of customer do not value lowest price like the group above, they valued the pride to be able to buy the most or more expensive one than their neighbor or their friends. So, it useless if someone sell high quality item, with low price to this group.